1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic addfare machine which is used in traffic facilities, for instance, railways, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In traffic systems such as railways, passengers use tickets, commutation tickets, season tickets, etc. In such traffic systems, an automatic addfare machine has been put in practical use for relieving congestion at a fare adjustment office or a ticket examination gate for paying additional fares by passengers who have carried beyond the riding sections specified on the tickets. The fare adjustment is made by operating this automatic addfare machine by a passenger himself who is carried beyond his destination.
On an automatic addfare machine shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,793 (Nagashima et al.), when a passenger who is carried beyond his destination inserts a ticket or a season ticket into the machine for making the fare adjustment, an amount of deficit (an addfare amount) is displayed. When a sufficient amount is inserted, a ticket (a fare adjustment ticket; an exit ticket) is issued to pass through the ticket examination gate.
As a result, the passenger passes through an automatic ticket examination gate using this issued fare adjustment ticket or giving it to a ticket examiner.
In case of such an automatic addfare machine, even when a simultaneous fare adjustment is needed for plural passengers of a group or a family, it is necessary for every one of the group or family members to make the fare adjustment one by one. So, an automatic addfare machine capable of collective fare adjustment of all members by one representative has been so far demanded.
That is, on conventional automatic addfare machines, the fare adjustment is made one time for one passenger. In other words, the fare adjustment could be made for only one person by one process.
In the subway in Washington D.C., U.S.A., automatic addfare machines are used. In this subway, prepaid card type tickets are used. When a passenger who has taken the subway carrying this prepaid card type ticket inserts this ticket into the automatic ticket examination machine, the gate of the automatic ticket examination machine may close as the value of the prepaid card type ticket has been decreased and he may be not able to pass through the gate in some cases. In this case, the passenger has to use an automatic addfare machine installed in the station yard. When a passenger inserts a prepaid card type ticket having a decreased value into an automatic addfare machine, an amount of deficit is shown on a display unit. When the passenger inserts a cash equivalent to the amount of deficit into the automatic addfare machine, data equivalent to the amount of money inserted is recorded on the magnetic stripe on the prepaid card type ticket that is inserted by the passenger and the value of the prepaid card type ticket is increased. When this prepaid card type ticket with the increased value is inserted into the automatic ticket examination machine, the gate is opened and the passenger is able to go out.
However, this automatic addfare machine also had such a problem that plural fare adjustments cannot be made simultaneously similarly as described above.